On May 27, 2026, Intercontinental Exchange CEO and founder Jeffrey Sprecher said at the Bernstein Strategic Decisions Conference that Hyperliquid is "bigger than Nasdaq," pointing to its scale despite a core team of 11 people. The piece contrasts that claim with token and equity valuations, then shifts to activity metrics such as roughly $180B in monthly volume and more than 70% share of the decentralized perpetuals market. It also flags regulatory uncertainty for U.S. and U.K. users and highlights upcoming dates including June 11 and the June 30, 2026 MiCA deadline.

On May 26, OpenZeppelin co-founder and former CTO Manuel Aráoz said he views all DeFi as unsafe and urged friends and family to exit positions including Aave, MakerDAO, and Compound. The remarks spread quickly on X and drew immediate rebuttals, including claims that most recent DeFi losses were tied to operational failures rather than smart-contract bugs. Data cited in the debate includes more than $1.1 billion in DeFi hack losses over the last 365 days and a TVL decline from about $172B in January to $148B in May 2026.

Ondo Finance said its founder and former Goldman Sachs Digital Assets team member Nathan Allman died on May 25, 2026, aged 32, with no cause disclosed. Ian De Bode, the company’s president since November 2025, assumed the CEO role immediately as Ondo reported $3.79 billion in TVL and about 70% share of tokenized stocks and ETFs as of May 26, 2026. Following the announcement, ONDO fell 4.47% in the hours after the news.

On May 21, 2026, U.S. lawmakers introduced the American Reserve Modernization Act (ARMA), which sets a goal of building a one‑million‑Bitcoin federal reserve within five years using only existing holdings and seized assets. The proposal is framed as budget‑neutral and avoids Treasury buy programs, contrasting with Sen. Cynthia Lummis's BITCOIN Act proposal of 200,000 BTC per year for five years. The U.S. government was reported to hold 328,372 BTC as of February 2026, with Bitcoin later cited around $76,000.

Intesa Sanpaolo reported $235 million in crypto assets as of March 31, 2026, rising from $100 million at end-2025, while several European peers rolled out trading, custody, and stablecoin initiatives. BBVA enabled 24/7 Bitcoin and Ethereum trading in its Spanish app, BPCE opened crypto access via Hexarq with a stated reach of 12 million clients, and a 12-bank group formed Qivalis to pursue a euro-denominated stablecoin.

BlackRock launched its staking-enabled Ethereum ETF, ETHB, on March 17, 2026, following a joint SEC and CFTC interpretive release stating staking rewards are not securities. Grayscale's ETHE, live since October 2025, distributed $9.4M in rewards for Q4 2025. Filings cited net shareholder yield estimates of 1.9%–2.6% APY after fees and custody.

TRM Labs data published in May 2026 says North Korea was linked to $577 million of the $651 million lost to crypto hacks in January–April 2026, or 76% of the total. The losses were concentrated in two April incidents attributed to Lazarus subgroup TraderTraitor: $285 million from Drift Protocol on April 1 and $292 million from Kelp DAO on April 18–19.

Intesa Sanpaolo disclosed that its crypto-related holdings rose from about $100M in Q4 2025 to roughly $235M in Q1 2026, including Bitcoin ETFs and new exposure to Ethereum and XRP. The filing also shows a new $95.9M call option tied to BlackRock’s IBIT, alongside increased positions in ARK 21Shares Bitcoin ETF and IBIT shares. The positions are described as proprietary trading on the bank’s own balance sheet, not a client product.

U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs saw $1.8B in net redemptions over six trading days in May 2026, including a $648.64 million outflow on May 18 led by BlackRock’s IBIT at $448 million. Total net assets slipped below $100.49 billion as inflation data and U.S. legislative developments weighed on risk appetite.